Outdoor Smoking Limits Take Effect in Palo Alto

Published 4:00 am, Saturday, October 28, 1995

Palo Alto's new outdoor smoking limits went into effect yesterday, but authorities said it will be a few more weeks before police start issuing citations for infractions.

The restrictions ban smoking within 20 feet of the doorway of any business or other building to which the public has access. The new rules were approved by the City Council last month after it worked out a compromise with some downtown restaurants that have outside patios.

The ordinance, one of the first in the nation to take the smoking wars outside, also prohibits smoking within the same 20 feet of bleachers, backstops and other recreation equipment in parks.

However, under the compromise, employee-only doorways are exempt, and the law does not apply between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., which allows restaurants to permit customers to smoke outside after the evening's last dinner is served.

Assistant Police Chief Lynn Johnson said officers will enforce the law only in response to complaints.

However, Johnson also said it is standard policy in Palo Alto for officers to issue only verbal warnings during the first few weeks of enforcement of any new ordinance or change in the law.

A key feature of the outdoor smoking law is that people are allowed to smoke within 20 feet of a doorway as long as they are only passing by.

Some critics view the tough ordinance as part of a campaign by downtown merchants and building owners who endorsed the new restrictions to crack down on panhandlers and the homeless, many of whom sit and smoke on public benches and in sidewalk cafes along University Avenue.

"Pardon the pun, but it's a smoke screen to move the homeless," said Hal Lesser, a Palo Alto barber who has vowed to defy the ordinance.

Lesser, a longtime smoker, has invited other smokers to feel free to use his doorway and barbershop on El Camino Way.

Infractions are punishable by a fine of $100 for the first offense, $200 for the second and $500 for the third.

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